5You'd think it would be weird, sitting on my bed and waiting for Zach to change. I mean, I barely knew him. At all. Yet here I was, watching him pull on his jeans over his boxers and ruffling around to find navy blue under amour and a tee shirt and a hoodie. And, real shocker, it definitely was weird.
So, after Zach finally found clothes, he ran his hand through his hair and messed it up further. Except he had it look artfully crafted as messy, and even though he was my roommate, I thought it was pretty hot. I ignored it as he slipped his feet into his Nikes, and looked around his half of the room. He smiled and reached for something on his floor that was shimmering lightly. I snuck a peek as he grabbed it. Oh, okay. Room key. Helpful.
Zach stood up and tossed his key into his pocket. He looked around for another second, his arms crossed. I had a feeling that he was making sure he wasn't forgetting anything he could even remotely need. It didn't really seem like he forgot anything, other than what I felt like I was forgetting. I was so used to having my phone in my hand, talking or texting. Or even in my pocket, waiting for a reply to a message or call. But now, I didn't even bring it with me, let alone have it on my person. It bothered me on more levels than Ricky did before I got to know him. I hated the empty feeling my pocket left me with. I didn't see how all these guys could live without their cell phones. I knew that of everything this school and punishment brought upon me, not having my phone was about tied with no being able to see my best friends.
Zach clapped his hands together and I broke out of my self-pitying, loss of cell phone, trance. I looked up at him as he said, "Ready to meet the strangest group of guys you'll ever meet?"
I sighed, half happy and half totally depressed. "Your friends, I take it?"
"Yup. They're…you'll see what I mean."
I was very afraid to find out what he meant. But, I needed to know some people other than him to get around the school and the campus. I needed to get my mind off the trial, and Josh. So I needed new friends. They weren't to replace Sam and Ricky, by any means, but I needed people in my life. It was just my personality so, here's hoping.
I grabbed my shoes up off the floor and pulled them onto my feet. I wore black high tops and they took a while to re-lace every time I put them on. Zach stood impatiently as I slipped the laces through the holes and tied the canvas tight. I liked my shoes tied really tight, because I was just like that. Sam was the same way with her many pairs of…strange…Converse.
When I finally pulled the ends of my jeans over the high tops and stood up, Zach looked like he was bored. I fail-snapped my fingers in his face. He shook out of his weird trance. Felling kind of awkward, I pulled down my shirt. I then realized that by adjusting my shirt, you could see down it much better, so I pulled the front up again, blushing.
"You blush a lot," Zach teased me.
"So?" I asked, trying to make it seem like I didn't really care. But it was painfully true. I was always blushing at something and royally sucked at hiding my embarrassment, no matter how mild.
"You're cute when you blush."
I ducked my head down and felt my face get hotter as blood pooled in my pale cheeks. My long bangs fell into place in front of my face and hid me, doing what they were intended for. I liked hiding from people, and they created a thick curtain that separated me from the outside world. I started nibbling my bottom lip, a bad habit I had since early in my freshman year, something Ricky had gotten me started on from all the innuendos of Spanish class.
"Come on. We can't keep the guys waiting. They're…impatient," Zach said,
I didn't say anything, just motioned with my hand for him to lead the way. Clearly, he would have to, because I didn't know my way anywhere. So he led the way from the room, and waited until I had gone into the hallway before he kicked the door closed behind us. He sauntered, his gait spewing confidence. His head held high, walking like he owned the world and knew it too. Meanwhile, I followed behind him and looked like complete uncertainty had taken on a form. I looked at the ground and made sure to keep my hair in my face. My thumbs were both in my front pockets. My way of walking was a mix between a slink, a strut and sneak. My shoulders were squared, my back straight, like I was strutting around arrogantly. But with my head down, watching my feet, hidden in a sea of my hair, it was a sneak, because I didn't want to be noticed. And a slink because I just had that look like I was going to slink away, blend into the shadows and be a creeper.
We walked through the halls, that god nobody was awake yet. I didn't want all these guys seeing me and being all What the fuck? It's a chick! I liked to be in the background and blend in, not be known and stand out. That was something I liked about my old high school. Everyone knew my name, but it was a small school, so that wasn't surprising. I could hang with my creep friends in the background and nobody cared at all because that's where we belonged and we liked it that way. Here, I would be the only girl in a school of perverted guys. I wouldn't have a choice but to stick out no matter where I went.
We got to a stairwell that seemed to be the back stairs that nobody ever used. It led us down from the third story to the ground and out a side door, straight outside. I didn't even bother asking anything. I would get an answer I didn't want. I kept following Zach as he went around towards the front of the building. We walked on a little stone path that wound through bushes and trees and felt like a little maze. The air was a little cool from it being so early yet, and my damp hair didn't help any. We kept going until we hit a big, modern building. Zach opened on of the doors and held it for me. I wasn't used to that. I was used to being one of the guys, not a girl. Awkwardly, I walked past him.
Zach followed me inside and let the door close. "This is the rec hall."
I looked around. In the immediate room, which was big but not the entire size of the building, there were a few pool tables. There were arcade games, the decent kind, and a really old but cool pin ball machine. There wasn't really anyone in that part, but there was a hallway branching off with lights on farther down.
"Come on. Don't just stand there, girly," Zach laughed as he went down the hall.
I smiled and followed him. There were a few doors leading into rooms I couldn't see, and a few that I could. In the ones that I could see into, there were a few TV's and couches and chairs and beanbags. In one, was a Mac Lab, like we had at my old high school. It was a dozen or so Mac's all at their own individual stations. That room looked almost sterile. I didn't really pay much more attention to any of the other rooms, because they were more or less like the first. So I kept following until we hit the end of the hall.
I heard Zach's friends before I saw them. They were making quite a bit of noise, and I didn't want to know what they were doing. It sounded like they were just talking. Wow, where they ever loud. Zach walked straight into the room, very comfortable with the people in there. Obviously, because they were his friends. I hung back a little. I didn't really want to meet more guys just yet.
"Hey, ya'll, this is my room— Austin where'd cha go?" he asked.
I wasn't sure if it was just me being stupid, but Zach had an accent. He sounded like his was from the south. Maybe I would ask him about it later. Then again…maybe not. My roomie popped his head out of the room, blushing lightly and smiling.
"Come on, Somers, gonna hide and be the pansiest pansy in all of Pansy Land?" he mocked.
I glared violently at him and admitted defeat. There wasn't much to win, so it wasn't much of a contest. So I took a breath, straightened up and went into the room.
The guys sitting there were stunned to see a chick, let alone me. They gasped and cocked their heads sideways. I swore one of them tried looking down my shirt. Another did that cheesy, perv thing of running his eyes really slowly up and down my body. I crossed my arms over my chest self-consciously. Nobody said anything making it more awkward, so I shook my head carefully, making my hair fall in my eyes. I hid away in my own little world and tried to ignore the guys staring at me. I sifted my weight from foot to foot as I waited for something else to happen.
"Ya'll, this is my roommate. Austin Somers," Zach said.
Oh, sure, now he says something. Now that I felt like a turtle and wanted to crawl into my shell. I gave the guys my usual three-fingered wave, with my thumb, index and middle fingers of my right hand.
"Uh, dude?" one of the guys said, very confused. "I think you're roommates a chick…"
Even though I didn't think it was possible, I blushed a deeper shade of red, much to Zach's amusement. I looked up at him for any idea of what to say, but found none. So I stayed silent and trying to hide.
"That genius over there is Scotty," Zach sighed.
"Like the song?" I asked.
Scotty smiled. "Yeah. Cept I don't think anyone would cheat on me."
He winked. Ew. Scotty was…how to describe him? He was tall, close to Zach's height, but not as muscled, though he still seemed like a sports player. He had really dark, onyx colored hair. It shined a weird shade of blue in the lights, but looked black otherwise. His eyes were killer bright blue and big, showing off his every emotion, whether he wanted to show it or not. He was smirking, and seemed very arrogant to me. He looked exactly like someone named Scotty would be. He lounged back on a modern black couch, his jeans halfway down his ass, showing off his gray boxers. His tee shirt was some band I didn't recognize right away.
"Pervert," I spat at him.
He cocked his head to the side. "You'll learn to love me soon enough. Everyone does."
He sounded just so…cocky, that one of the other guys laughed. I shifted my attention to a guy that didn't seem his age. In fact, he looked like his was maybe fourteen. But he was completely adorable. He had wavy blond hair with some darker highlights mixed in. His eyes were super warm and brown and I had the urge to hug him. He just had a bright, happy, nice aura that spelled out he was a total genius. My first thought was that he had to be gay, with his soft, shy smile and the fact he didn't seem like a major pervert. He dressed in a blue button down and light jeans, an old pair of red Converse on his feet.
"He's Google," Zach said. "He's a total genius and actually comes here for the school, not because his 'rents don't wanna deal with him. Like the rest of us."
"Uh, hey…" I said, smiling tightly.
"Hi. My real name's not Google, if you didn't guess," he said.
"I kinda figured. What is it?"
He blushed and looked down at his feet, a lot like I had been doing.
"Come on. My names Austin and I'm a chick. I think you name isn't that bad," I coaxed.
"Fredrick Mayhew…" he muttered.
"That's not that bad," I said, smiling. "But I'll still call you Google."
His face lit up like a little kid on Christmas morning. Or, more appropriately, Sam's Dad after we gave him a Twinkie. I couldn't help but smile back at him. He was infectious.
Zach smiled and I thought it probably had something to do with me clicking with Google. Regardless, there were more people I had to meet.
"Anyone gonna introduce me or do I have to waste my energy and do it myself?"
This guy was lounging on another couch, arms more or less crossed, as he drank a huge-ass bottle of apple juice. I knew Sam would be jealous, so I planned on telling her every detail just as soon as I could. He took a drink and like half the bottle was magically gone. I didn't want to know.
"That assholes Carter. Don't even bother with him," Zach said.
"Aw, I'm hurt man."
"He's lazy, a dumbass, a major douche bag, pervert and I wouldn't insult him if I were you. He won't hesitate to hit a girl."
Carter shrugged and shook his shaggy brown hair from his eyes. His was just as bad as Scotty, with his pants more or less around his knees. He wore gray sweats rather than jeans though. A white sweater that looked like it had seen better days was on his shoulders. I didn't even want to get close enough to see what color his eyes were, and I didn't. In fact, I planned on staying far, far away from him in the future.
There was one other guy sitting around, not saying much. He was hanging upside-down on the couch. His brown hair, more or less the shade of mine, was messed up from sitting like he was. His hands were folded on his broad chest and his legs were crossed at his ankles. He stared straight to the ceiling, not doing anything else. His light, holey skinny jeans actually covered his ass and his tee shirt was plain and gray. It showed off his lean muscles. He immediately made me raise an eyebrow at him. He was silent, hadn't been shocked when he saw (if he did see) that I was a girl. He wasn't making some joke, and he looked totally normal from what I could see. His killer green eyes almost glowed and he had a cute, boyish face, even though it was clear he was probably sixteen.
"That's Austin too," Zach laughed. "He doesn't usually say much, so…" he shrugged. "But he answers to just about anything."
Other Austin was silent and I didn't press things further.
"Well…now what?" I asked.
"Now…now we do whatever. Pool tournament, anyone?" Zach answered.
"Oh, hell yes," Scotty agreed, standing up.
All the guys got up and started down the hall again, going to that first big room with the pool tables. Scotty grabbed two pool sticks and threw one of them at me. Thinking fast, I matrix-ed out of the way and still caught it in my right hand. I regained my balance and brushed my bangs from my face, smiling and blushing.
Scotty jerked his head towards the tables. "Somers, you're with me. Show me what cha got."
I gulped because I wasn't very good at pool, at all. I went over to where he was standing, but I was careful to stay out of his reach in case he tried anything not so funny.
Zach grabbed two pool sticks and threw one at Carter. He snapped it up, mid-air, like nothing happened, and made it look pretty cool. He teamed up with Zach on the other side of the table and started racking up the balls. Austin and Google sat silently on the sidelines and watched. I envied them and winced at the crack as Carter made the first shot. He smiled as a ball went into the far, right corner pocket.
"Looks like we're solids," Zach muttered as the next shot was made.
Luckily, I escaped my turn momentarily, but I couldn't avoid it forever. Taking in a shaky breath, I stepped up to the table. I lined up the stick with the white cue ball, aiming for the red striped on, because it was near a pocket and my aim was decent, but I didn't want to make a fool out of myself. I tested my aim a few times with the stick balanced between the knuckles of my index and middles fingers on my left hand. It was a weird way to play pool, but it's what I was used to, so I stuck to it. I finally struck the end of the pool stick into the cue. It cracked into the ball I was aiming for, but with a weird spin, so it kind of just spin in a tight, fast circle before the cue went into the pocket.
"Scratch," Google muttered. "That sucks."
Zach shrugged, almost like a failed attempt at an apology and grabbed the cue as it rolled back. He put it just off-center of the table, only a few inches from the back wall. He lined up carefully, staring down a solid blue ball. In a quick strike, he hit the cue and sent it slamming into the blue, which didn't land in a pocket, but knocked in a yellow one instead. He smiled at me like a total guy and I gulped. These guys kicked my ass and they were definitely going to put me in my place.
Another round was played, a few more balls sunk into pockets, and it was my turn again. I had zoned out a little bit and Scotty elbowed my side lightly.
He stage-whispered, "I think it's your turn. Try not to lose us too many more points, hmm?"
I blushed, again, and stepped up to the table. All the striped balls were in very bad places, all behind solids or in places impossible for me to hit without making a total fool out of myself. I stared at the table and tried to plot my next move, which wasn't working out too well for me. I put my left hand on my hip and put most of my weight on the same foot. I must have looked like such a chick. Other than the black eye. Carter groaned and leaned against the table. Zach dropped his pool stick on the tiled floor, let it bounce back up, caught it, and dropped it again several times.
"Dude, ya'll are gonna lose anyway. Just help her out," Zach more or less ordered.
Scotty smiled a very scary (to me) smile. He stepped up behind me and wrapped his arms around my torso, covering my hands with his. He was a decent amount bigger and taller than I was, so I didn't protest.
"Relax, Somers, I won't bite," he murmured in a low voice.
"You better not. Major turn-off," I warned.
Regardless. I forced my muscles to relax. I closed my eyes, took a breath and slowly let it out.
"You're still tense."
"I can't very well relax when there's a horny guy standing so close to my ass," I snapped.
He ignored it and Carter laughed. Acting completely against my own will (more or less), Scotty used me and my turn and a puppet and somehow managed to sink the striped yellow, which was behind an almost line of solids. I didn't even ask.
"Now that is how you play with the bog boys," Scotty said, thrusting my pool stick back at me. I didn't even know how it switched hands after the shot. Even though his voice sounded mean as he spoke, it wasn't any worse than when all my guy friends back home used to mock me. Like…not meant to be taken meanly…for you anyway. Everyone else was supposed to see an insult, but you. I didn't know him nearly well enough, but I swore he was just fail-flirting with me. He was smiling, just in general, nothing special. His eyes twinkled lightly as if to spell out his own private joke.
I smirked back at him, cocked my head to the right, and put my hands on my hips.
"Just you wait. Play me in soccer and I'll murder you," I snorted.
"You're on…just as soon as we finish up this game. We're gonna lose, but you might as well learn something."
"I don't think so. Hey, big Austin, here."
I tossed the pool stick at him and his hand lunged out at took it from the air, like a cobra striking. It was a little weird, but whatever. He took my place at the table, next to Scotty, and I went and stood next to Google.
"That's cheating! You can't just change players in the middle of a game!" Carter complained.
"Sure we can," I said. "And he's Austin too, so just pretend it's me."
Scotty smiled and wrapped himself around Austin, making a big show out of it.
"Hey, baby, lemme show ya how it's done."
Austin snapped an elbow into Scotty's ribcage and forced him off. He gave him a very cold look and I shivered just from seeing it. He didn't say anything, but his tone of…look…was well felt throughout the entire room and the five people watching him. A few seconds later, the game continued—and ended that much faster.